I forgot to post my reflections yesterday coz a lot was going on at home and had to do multi-tasking ... as usual. Yesterday's reading that I got was from GALATIANS 5: 22-23. It speaks of what our heart and soul should have and should be. If we plant these fruits we will certainly gain the Kingdom of God and harvest the love of God. Simple fruits to read but definitely difficult to put into practice. Let's go over one-by-one:
The FRUIT of the Spirit is: (not in order)
- LOVE - I have no problem with this aspect coz literally I love everyone. It is easy for me to love a fellowman and accept who he/she is and what he7she has not. If we talk about love in a relationship, oh I have been hurt few times but it was easy for me to move on and just laugh about the past.
- JOY - To give joy every minute of the day ... no matter what you are doing is simply being in the presence of God. There was a short period in my life here in Sweden that I lost the joy almost 100%. I have no strength to go to work eventhough I only work every other day (working days) and for 3 hours. I just want to be a SAHM once again so to speak. After 3 days I had to beg God to remove such emptiness and He heard my plea. I, once again was back to my normal giving joy in everything I see and in everything I do. How I did it? I simply asked GOD every single day "Bless Me Father for I claim the blessings you have for me."
Joy is not the absence of suffering. It is the presence of God. -Robert Schuller
Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day. -Henri Nouwen
Joy can be real only if people look
upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside
themselves and their personal happiness. -Tolstoy
Today I choose life. Every morning
when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain… To feel
the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and
choices – today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but
embrace it. -Kevyn Aucoin
Your success and happiness lies in
you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an
invincible host against difficulties. -Helen Keller
- PEACE - Can I honestly say that I have peace in my heart and that I spread peace to the people around me? For years now I have peace in my heart and when I have peace inside me I spread peace. I guess it goes hand in hand =)
- PATIENCE - Ah this fruit I struggle from time to time but not in a magnitude level. I easily get to realize my emotion so take a deep breath then slowly breathe in ... breathe out. I admire my hubby coz he is a very patient person and with that being said he is my inspiration =)
- GOODNESS - hhhmmmm yeah people around here says I have a very good heart but deep inside me I struggle sometimes coz there are situations that I have to ask God to help me and He never fails me. At the end of the day I did good coz I was good.
- KINDNESS - Now this is confusing! To clarify as I have learned from one lesson, kindness and goodness are so closely related that sometimes it is not easy to distinguish between them. A kind person is also a good person; a good person is by nature a kind person. Both of these characteristics stem from love. Someone has said that patience is suffering love; kindness is compassionate love; and goodness is ministering love. These characteristics which are produced in us by the Holy Spirit have to do with our relationships to others. We usually think of kindness as an expression of love from one person to another, and of goodness as a quality of being pure.
- FAITHFULNESS - as written in John 14:15 faithfulness is very simple, it says "“If you love me, you will keep my commandments." I personally struggle on Commandment 4 : "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. I cannot keep the sabbath day holy coz it is my day to go to the grocery. I took leave in the catholic church here which I have discusses with the priest a long time ago and he gave me his approval BUT I promised him that as soon as my son can be left alone at home, I will be attending the Sunday mass again. The mass time here is very very limited options so once in a while I visit the church after or before work instead.
- GENTLENESS - it is a "power under control" fruit from the Holy Spirit. If we look and listen around we truly live in a "blame game" society where oftentimes what we do and how we act are never our own fault situation. Our temperament and how we deal with people are always somedbody else's fault. Why? Because the following excuses exist : It's Not my fault. It's in my genes. I inherited it from my mother or father. I was pushed too far. or That's the way they were, too.
been gentle all my life especially in difficult circumstances? Ah, the answer is NOT ALL
TIMES. This is one fruit that I need to plant deeply in my heart!
- SELF-CONTROL - ah oh well I have expressed this aspect from my January 08 art journal.
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